Despite the fact that the Swedish suicidal black metallers Shining had announced during 2004 that they had achieved what they wanted through their music and broke up, they return during 2005 with a new line up and their long-awaited fourth full length release, "IV The Eerie Cold". The basic figure and very soul of the band remains Kvarforth and, of course, the band keeps on supporting the ideology they had since their very beginning, "suicide, self-abuse and the abuse of the human mind and flesh", with the "eerie cold" being present in every single second of the album.

Suicidal black metal is what Shining play and the album ranges from melancholic acoustic passages to groovy mid-tempo black metal moments that end to raging misanthropic outbursts with the guitars making the overall eerie atmosphere more intense and Kvarforth's vocals escalating the extreme emotional charge of the compositions that flow like razors through the listener's skin. The razorblade black metal guitar riffing harmonizes wonderfully with the unerring rhythm section (on the drums since this album lies Ludvig Hvit of Spiritual Beggars), which accompanies the band in any possible tempo while the guitars fear not to play solos at times, solos that pace with the death-like atmosphere of the album.

Kvarforth's interpretation evokes an intense disgust and hate for everything pure and innocent making the overall morbid feeling of the album even more paranoiac and twisted. The album flows definitely as one keeping the interest of the listener to high levels from its very second until its very end. Songs like "Nagonting Ar Jarligt Fel", "Vemodets Arkitektur", "The Claws Of Perdition" and "Eradication Of The Condition" strike down the listener with their bitter yet so powerful approach, having also their acoustic moments, while "I Och Med Insikt Skall Du Forga" keeps a more mid-tempo approach with intense atmosphere, having also its raging moments, balancing between aggression and grieving self-destruction, and "The Eerie Cold" that is a piece of pure distress and melancholy with the clean almost-crying vocals sounding so painful and paranoid.

No, here you won't find keyboards leading the music, crystal-clear production, plastic image or easy melodies, but an album filled with inspiration, fabulous compositions, groove and pure black metal feeling from one of the best underground bands that came out the abyss of Scandinavia during the second half of the 90s. One thing is for sure, by buying this album only good you will cause to yourself!

In my hands I am holding the fourth album of one of the most controversial bands of the underground Black Metal scene: Shining. I guess this band doesn't need an introduction, since it is one of the more known bands in the Black Metal underground. They've earned that fame and their reputation with some outstanding albums and their controversy.